Hold On
by riri1148
Summary: George hasn't taken his brother's death quite well. Enter Hermione and things start getting interesting.
1. Prologue

**A/N: To those that read my story, A Second Chance in Love, this is part of the reason why I haven't updated my story in awhile. I was part of a fic exchange at a livejournal community called Hermione_smut. I wrote this story for mihnn a fellow livejournal user. I hope you guys like it.**

**Thanks goes to keelhaulrose and DramaGeek2010 for being great betas.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

Prologue

"'Why_ so serious, George? It doesn't suit you,' Fred asked, as they ran to their posts._

_'I'm worried,' George answered._

_'About?' Fred asked, curious._

_'How are we going to survive this war? We've lost so many friends and family because of it. I don't know how I would handle losing any one from our family.' George answered, sad._

_'It'll be okay, George. We're all protecting each other and making sure that we survive. When everything gets back to normal, we'll be back at our joke shop in no time, you'll see.' Fred said, with a smile before running in a different direction."_

George Weasley took a sip of his Firewhiskey as he thought about the last time he saw Fred. He had believed Fred's words that they would survive the war. That everything would go back to normal. It was what kept him going, kept him from giving up hope.

But when word reached him of Fred's death, his world came crashing down. He had felt numb as he ran towards the Great Hall. He couldn't cheer like the rest of them when Voldermort was defeated. He cried the moment he saw his twin brother.

Things were never the same after that day. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move on. Everything around him reminded him of Fred. The joke shop, the Burrow, their flat all felt empty without him there. How was he to move on with his life when everything reminded him of his pain? What was the point of celebrating their birthday or any holiday? Nothing was the same.

To ease his pain, he took up drinking and no longer kept contact with his family or friends after an incident with his mother. She was trying to convince him to go home to celebrate his birthday. She kept asking him while he kept saying 'no'. She made one simple mistake when she said, "Please, Fred." which caused him to snap back and say, "Fred's dead, mom!"

He still remembered the pain in her eyes when he yelled at her. She was speechless and tears were flowing heavily. He tried to apologize, but she dismissed it and left. His family and friends had tried to talk to him but he kept pushing them away. After awhile, they stopped coming. None of them understood what he was going through. They had moved on while he found his comfort in a bottle.

As he sat in front of his fireplace, pouring him another glass of Firewhiskey, he was surprised to hear a knock at his door.

_Who the bloody hell could that be?, _thought George, turning towards the door. He pondered on whether he should open the door. Before he could decide, he heard someone say, "George Weasley, if you don't open this bloody door, I'm going to blast this door down!"

He recognized that voice in an instant and ran to the door. He knew better than to get on their bad side.

_She sure does scare the crap out of me_, he thought as he opened the door.


	2. His Anger and Her Determination

His Anger and Her Determination

Hermione Granger was on a mission. She was determined to get George out of his depression. She was trying to make up for the time she wasn't there for him. Work and problems in her personal life always seemed to keep her away from helping her close friend, but not anymore. Nothing was going to stop her accomplishing her goal. She wasn't surprised when he didn't answer the door to her when she decided to visit him one late June afternoon. So she did the one thing she knew would get him to answer it.

"George Weasley, if you don't open this bloody door, I'm going to blast this door down!"

She couldn't help but smirk a little when she heard his footsteps heading towards her. The moment he opened the door, her small smirk disappeared as she began to frown. Standing before her was the former full of life George Weasley. His normal cheerful appearance was gone while in its place was a person who no longer seemed to care about the world. She smelled the Firewhiskey on him which caused her heart to ache. Was this George Weasley? The very man that when his ear got hit with the Killing Curse made a joke about it? The man that along with his brother made a grand exit by humiliating that awful woman, Umbridge?

From his appearance, she would have denied it, but she knew it was him.

After George silently let her inside, Hermione began to realize that his flat wasn't much better. Empty bottles were scattered across the room, along with various broken bottle pieces. The only light that seemed to fill the room was coming from the fireplace. Things were in worse of shape than she had first thought. When she turned around to talk to George, she watched him walk past her and sit in the chair that was in front of the fireplace. He poured himself another glass before starting to stare at the fire.

Hermione was at a lost on what to do. She went ahead and pulled up a chair right next to George, joining him in his gazing. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she found the courage and asked, "How have you been, George?"

Silence.

"Have you been sleeping?"

More silence.

Hermione tried to catch his gaze but he refused to look at her. When she did manage to stare into his eyes, he seemed to look past her as if she was nothing. His eyes were once filled with life and laughter. Now they were nothing but empty windows.

His unresponsiveness was beginning to bug Hermione as she continued to ask him questions. The only important thing to him it seemed was that glass that he held in his hands. She sighed in frustration until she came up with an idea.

Without warning, she quickly grabbed the glass from his hand which surprised the heck out of George.

"Give me that back," he said, looking at her for the first time.

"Oh, now you talk. Why are you drinking this stuff, George? You don't need it." Hermione asked.

"Yes, I do. It helps relax me. It also helps me deal with my pain."

"That's what you have friends and family for. We're here to help you. We understand what you're going through."

He chuckled, darkly before he said, "No one understands what I'm going through."

"How so, George? Last time I saw your mother, she was busy cleaning yours and Fred's old bedroom, crying while she did it. Bill, Percy, Ron, your dad and Charlie make it a daily routine to go have a drink at his grave and remember the good times. From what I heard from Harry, Ginny has nightmares, of losing Fred. But please tell me how they don't understand what you're going through."

"I lost more than my brother that day, Hermione! I lost my best friend! You're not the one having to live here where everything makes you think of him! I believed him when he said everything would go back to normal. But nothing can ever be normal again!" George yelled, jumping from his seat. He began to pace the room, trying to control his anger.

"Nothing is ever normal. You'll always miss him there's nothing wrong with that. You just need to move on. Fred would want you to move on!"

"You just don't get it, Hermione."

"What don't I get, George? The fact that you lost someone that very dear to you? I understand that. You're not the only one that lost somebody because of Voldermort."

"I know that. But it's still not the same. Why can't you see that? He was also my twin, Hermione. We finished each other's sentences. We always seemed to know what was going on with each other without ever having to say a word. Did you know that we had a tradition on our birthday to pull a prank that outdid the year before? Or that Fred always wanted to travel the world to see all the different Muggle joke shops?"

"No, I didn't know that." Hermione replied.

"No one does. Those were things we shared with each other. We were one person. How am I supposed to move on with the other half of me is gone?"

George began to tear up at the thought.

Hermione immediately got up from her seat and stood next to George.

"George, it won't be easy, but you can do this. Let me help you."

Hermione reached out and touched George's arm which caused him to move away in anger.

"I don't want your help! Better yet, I don't need your help! I was fine dealing with this on my own!" He looked away from her, refusing to let her look at him. All he wanted was to be left alone. He didn't want anyone's help especially hers.

"Drinking and shunning your family isn't a good way of dealing with things!"

"I don't care! If I want to drink and shun my family, that's my business not yours. Now why don't you take your help and go bother Ron with it? I honestly don't know how he could date someone like you!"

When George turned around to face her, he noticed her eyes beginning to water. An image of his mother came to his mind as he began to feel guilty for what he said.

"Hermione, I…" Her hand went up to stop him from saying another word. George watched her as she took a deep breath and looked at him with determination in her eyes.

He always did admire that about her even now.

"I'll go ahead and leave for now. But mark my words that I will be back. If you refuse to open the door, I will blast it open. I'm going to help you whether you like it or not." Hermione said.

She turned around and grabbed her things without looking back at him.

He flinched when he heard his door slam.

_I'm in a heap of bloody trouble_, thought George as he sat down with a sigh.


End file.
